Beard Balm Vs Beard Oil: The Tale of the Tape

What Is Beard Balm?

Much like beard oil, beard balm moisturizes your skin and softens it while conditioning your beard hair. What’s awesome about beard balm is, aside from containing essential oils and natural ingredients like sweet almond oil and shea butter, it uses sealants like beeswax to help pack in moisture and to style your beard. Sealants provide a moderate amount of hold similar to styling gels so you can sculpt your beard’s look and heft any way you want.

What Is Beard Oil?

Compared to beard balm, beard oil has less thickness or viscosity. But like beard balm, beard oil provides the nourishment and conditioning your beard requires. What beard oil doesn’t provide in terms of styling assistance, it more than makes up for in the moisturizing department. Beard oils are ideal for when you’re first growing out your beard since their essential oils will combat the dryness and itchiness you’ll face during this period. Aside from their anti-itching properties, beard oils also promote beard growth.

The best time to apply beard balm is usually after a shower when your skin is still warm and your pores are open. Make sure your beard is completely dry, though. You’ll need to blow dry it or pat it dry first.

Open your beard balm tin and use your thumb to get a portion of balm the size of one or two peas.

Daub the beard balm on your palm and start rubbing the palms of both hands together to heat and spread the balm evenly.

Start massaging the sides of your beard. Make sure the balm goes deep into the skin as well so it moisturizes this layer.

After you’ve worked through the skin, make sure the beard hairs are likewise covered. Slowly lather and massage your way to the front, particularly to your jaw and your mustache.

To give your beard more volume, you’ll need to apply a little more beard balm and then work the balm on the roots of your beard hair. For short beards, you can easily straighten any fly-aways or renegade hairs by hand.

It’s not necessary to use beard balm more than once a day. It’s something you’ll use to achieve a certain look with your beard that lasts all day. You can likewise use beard balms with natural ingredients on your head hair and style it in a way that matches your beard.

Using Beard Balm for Long Beards

Make sure your beard is dry when you’re applying the beard balm in case you’re doing this after a shower. Blow your beard dry or air dry it with a towel if it’s still wet.

Open your beard balm tin or bottle and apply a small portion roughly the size of a pea. Put this portion on your palms and rub them together to warm up the product.

In contrast to applying beard balm on short beards, you want to start applying the balm on the back and bottom portion of your beard. Massage your way up.

Get another portion of balm from the tin or bottle, spread it again on both of your palms, and massage it from your sideburns going to the sides of the beard.

Lastly, apply a third portion of balm on your palms and use this for the chin area and the mustache in case you’re not using mustache wax separately.

Use a beard comb to spread the product evenly on your beard by combing the hairs upwards.

Finally, use the beard comb to style your beard by stroking the beard hairs downward while carefully managing the frizz, waves, and the finish for its look.

Much like beard balm, experts recommend applying beard oil after a shower. Make sure your beard is dry, otherwise the water will repel the oil.

Like with most things, moderation is the key. Use only a small amount of beard oil to avoid the oil-slick look. Short beards will only require around 2-3 drops. Put it on one of your palms and rub your hands together to distribute the oil.

Massage the oils onto the sides of your face first and then work your fingers down. Next, work your hands from the underside of the beard all the way up to your chin and mustache. Make sure you lather every part of your beard.

After working the beard oil into your skin and the roots of your beard hair, smooth out the waves and the frizz to create a groomed finish.

How to Apply Beard Oil on Long Beards

The best time to apply beard oil is after taking a shower. Your skin’s pores are open and the nutrients of the beard oil will therefore easily penetrate your skin. Make sure you dry your beard first.

Too much beard oil can make your beard look greasy and disgusting, so you’ll need to make sure you use just the right amount. Long beards might need around 6-7 drops of beard oil.

Start massaging the beard oil from the back and bottom portion and work your way up. You want to use your fingers and rake through your beard hairs.

After moving up, massage the beard oil from your sideburns going down to the sides of your beard.

Now get your beard comb. Comb it from the upper part moving down. After moving down, comb your beard hairs upward. Lastly, comb going down but this time to remove waves and frizz and to give your beard a groomed finish.

Using Beard Oil and Beard Balm at the Same Time

Many guys are wondering if you can use beard oil and beard balm together or if you need to apply beard oil or balm first. The answer is yes, you can. Just apply the beard oil first and apply just the right amount to keep it from repelling the balm. Next, work the beard balm on your beard. Make sure that you use a beard comb to evenly distribute the products on your beard.

Although you may want to maximize the benefits for your beard by using both products, experts see little to no value in combining the use of beard oils and beard balms. You’re really better off using a beard oil if you’re in the early stages of growing your beard or to moisturize your beard and using beard wax or balm when you want to style it a certain way.

In case you’d like to know more about beard growth and maintenance, here’s a video of ours on The 6 Most Common Issues Faced When Growing A Beard and How to Solve Them:

We hope this article has taught you the fine points of using beard oils and beard balms. Again, use beard oils to give your beard a healthy, lustrous look and apply beard balms for more volume and styling. Knowing how to use one over the other will help your beard look its best.

What other beard products do you need help with? Write your replies in the comments section below and we’ll write a guide on each of your concerns in the future.

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